Subic Bay Freeport — Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Jonathan D. Tan conveyed his confidence that the tourism industry’s full recovery here in the country’s premier Freeport zone remains high.
This statement came as President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. lifted the state of public health emergency in the country thru Presidential Proclamation No. 297 effective July 21, 2023.
“This encouraging development provides us with an optimistic outlook of the travel and tourism industry in the country,” Tan said.
Tan was guest speaker at the Tourism Congress of the Philippines (TCP) 2023 Luzon Cluster Regional Consultative Forum, where he addressed some 200 members, tourism stakeholders and guests.
Dubbed as “Sustainable Tourism: Leading the Recovery and Profitability of Business Operations in the Post-Pandemic Era,” the said regional consultative meeting aims to bring together the government and industry stakeholders to lay down concerns and protect stakeholders.
During the meeting, participants and panelists discussed issues, challenges, and plans to formulate joint programs to ensure that the interests of the stakeholders will be evaluated and addressed.
In his speech, Tan took pride in the 99% tourist arrivals in 2022, which is relatively higher than the 89% in 2019; and as of June 2023, 5.15 million visitor arrivals and 436,000 tourist arrivals have been recorded cumulatively.
“While increasing job generation and tourism patronage has always been our goal for our tourism sector, my leadership now is gearing towards the holistic development of Subic Bay, making it a highly competitive and sustainable business and investment hub. This is captured in our new vision for SBMA, which is Subic Bay Freeport is the preferred sustainable investment hub and eco-tourism destination in Asia Pacific by 2030,” Tan added.
BusinessNewsAsia